Letter 284

To Venustus the Monk. The monk who moves from place to place without great necessity, on account of his own faintheartedness, and impatience, and certain human and weak reasonings, supposing that through his journeying abroad he will diminish the thoughts of his soul, will indeed change his place, but the affliction of his heart, and his own anguish, and the temptation he will in no way diminish, nor lessen; rather he will increase them, and nourish them, and strengthen them, and foster them, and multiply them. Therefore let us not pass through this life slackly and heedlessly. For we shall assuredly render an account of our works.

Ὁ μεταβαίνων ἐκ τόπων εἰς τόπους μοναχὸς ἐκ- τὸς μεγάλης ἀνάγκης, διὰ τὴν οἰκείαν μικροψυχίαν, καὶ ἀνυπομονησίαν, καὶ λογισμούς τινας ἀνθρωπί- νους, καὶ ἀσθενεῖς, νομίζων διὰ τῆς ἀποδημίας τοὺς λογισμοὺς τῆς ψυχῆς ἐλαττῶσαι, τὸν μὲν τόπον ἀλλάξει, τὴν δὲ θλίψιν τῆς καρδίας, καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ συνοχὴν, καὶ τὸν πειρασμὸν οὐδαμῶς ἐλαττώσει, οὐδὲ μειώσει, μᾶλλον δὲ αὐξήσει, καὶ θρέψει, καὶ κρατώσει, καὶ θάλψει, καὶ πολλαπλασιάσει. Διόπερ μὴ χαύνως καὶ ἀπεριμέριμνως τὸν βίον διοδευώμεν. Λόγον γὰρ πάντως ὑφέξομεν τῶν ἔργων ἡμῶν.